Rates Payments

Payment of rates will now be by way of four (4) equal (or approximately equal) instalments per year notwithstanding that any rate account can still be paid in full following the issue of the first instalment account.

Rate accounts (30 day accounts) will be issued in respect of the four payments with the due dates for each payment to be as follows:

• 1st Payment  Friday 23 September  2011
• 2nd Payment Friday 16 December   2011
• 3rd Payment  Friday 16 March        2012
• 4th Payment  Friday 15 June          2012

Rates may be paid:
In person, at the Council Offices during the hours of 8.30am to 5.00pm, Monday to Friday. EFTPOS facilities are available for payments.

By post, to District Council of Coober Pedy, PO Box 425, Coober Pedy SA 5723

By the Internet by clicking here 

Any ratepayer who may, or is likely to, experience difficulty with meeting the standard payment arrangements is invited to contact Sherill Wood, Rates & Property Officer, on Ph: 08 86 724 600 to discuss alternative payment arrangements. Such inquiries are treated confidentially by the Council.

The Council has adopted a policy that where the payment of rates will cause a ratepayer demonstrable hardship, the Council is prepared to make available extended payment arrangements.

Late Payments

The Local Government Act provides that Councils impose a penalty of a 2% fine on any payment for rates, whether instalment or otherwise, that is received late. A payment that continues to be late is then charged an interest rate, set each year according to a formula in the Act, for each month it continues to be late. The purpose of this penalty is to act as a genuine deterrent to ratepayers who might otherwise fail to pay their rates on time, to allow Councils to recover the administrative cost of following up unpaid rates and to cover any interest cost the Council may meet because it has not received the rates on time. For the 2012/2013 financial year this rate has not yet been determined.

The Council issues a final notice for payment of rates when rates are overdue i.e. unpaid by the due date. Should rates remain unpaid more than 21 days after the issue of the final notice then the Council refers the debt to a debt collection agency for collection. The debt collection agency charges collection fees that are recoverable from the ratepayer.

When the Council receives a payment in respect of overdue rates the Council applies the money received as follows:

• first - to satisfy any costs awarded in connection with court proceedings;
• second - to satisfy any interest costs;
• third - in payment of any fines imposed;
• fourth - in payment of rates, in chronological order (starting with the oldest account first).